Captiva Civic Association’s (“CCA”) challenge to the Land Development Code (“LDC”) amendments that increase building heights, density, and intensity on Captiva and South Seas is scheduled for trial in the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) from Aug. 19 through Aug. 22, and then continuing on Aug. 26. In response to the Judge’s initial Order, we advised the Judge that we intend to present 3 expert witnesses and expect the trial to last 4-5 days; the County suggested the trial would only take 1 day.
But now, the County is intending to present 3 expert witnesses and the new owners of South Seas who have intervened intend to present 7 additional expert witnesses in support of the Code changes. The County and South Seas are clearly more concerned about the merits of our case than they initially let on. Also, South Seas filed a motion to strike 24 paragraphs of our Petition regarding “density” that went directly to the heart of the issue. On July 11, the Administrative Law Judge denied South Seas’ Motion in its entirety. The Judge’s Order denying the South Seas Motion is attached here.